Along the Horizon
by EchoEternal
Summary: Years after their adventure to save the world, Mario's travel partners come together again, sharing stories on how their lives changed as they wait for a visit from their old friend. One-shot; Post-Paper Mario: TTYD.


This is just a quick Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door epilogue tribute, which is officially 10 years old everywhere this year. If you haven't played it yet, be warned: **SPOILERS** are here! And I strongly recommend you play it immediately; it's a fantastic title, and that's putting it lightly.

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><p>Snow gently fell over the docks of Rogueport Harbor. An old brown Bob-omb with a gray-white mustache quietly hummed a few sailor songs, not bothering to prop up his stitched white sailor cap back when it slipped over his face, covering one yellow eye. Though there were less ships docking during wintertime, an occasional boat sailed in or out.<p>

"No rest for Rogueport," the Bob-omb mused in between songs.

He watched around the docks carefully, and made sure the criminal activity did not make its way to the harbor. There were some suspicious characters: a shifty eyed Goomba, a cackling Bandit, and even a Toad that gave off a bad vibe. As long as he lived in Rogueport that was how it would always be. The old Bob-omb sighed.

"Hey! Admiral Bobbery!" shouted an excited voice.

The old brown Bob-omb looked up to the stairs. A longhaired, pink Goomba toddled from the plaza into the docks. Though her helmet covered most of it, her blonde ponytail waved freely in the back, and her new bangs poked out from the front. Her red scarf still dangled in front of her shirt, same as she had it years ago.

"Well met, lass!" He stepped forward as she made her way over. The Goomba panted a bit, apparently from her rush over. Admiral Bobbery laughed. "The harbor isn't breaking away from the rest of the port, Goombella. No need to rush here."

"I just…wanted to get here…early," Goombella panted. She sucked in a breath of air and slowly exhaled. "Phew. Anyway, how did you get here so early?"

"Cortez and the crew dropped me off, of course," Bobbery laughed. "It's easy to head to the docks when you live out on the sea and bounce back and forth between them! Ah, if only I had my dear Scarlette to return to." He sighed, and lamented his long deceased wife.

Goombella shifted in her spot, a pitying expression on her face. "I'm sorry, Admiral."

"Nothing for you to be sorry about, lass!" The Admiral perked up again. "Happened long before your time. Anyway, you didn't come here to here this old boy mourn his wife again. Tell me, how's research been with Frankly?"

"Fine," Goombella swayed about as she answered. When she noticed that Bobbery had lowered his eyes, she sighed and added, "Everything's fine, it's just, well, way less interesting these days."

Bobbery nodded. "Nothing quite beats discovering an ancient city that's been buried for a thousand years, eh?"

"Not even close," Goombella agreed. "Digging around there was great! But…even that wasn't as totally amazing as traveling around was." Admiral Bobbery silently nodded. "…So, like, do you think he—?"

"Hey!" shouted a cheerful voice. A green-shelled Koopa walked forward, dressed in a fine, blue winter waistcoat, with a matching jacket and white boots. Were it not for his paler yellow skin, his friends might not have recognized him.

Goombella gasped. "Great Goomba's Ghost, is that you, Koops?"

"Of course it's me," Koops announced. "Who else could it be?"

"Pardon us, old boy; you certainly have changed quite a bit," Bobbery explained for Goombella, who nodded in agreement.

Koops scratched his head and stammered, "R-Really? I didn't think…I mean, I'm trying to take my appearance more seriously, but…gosh, I-I didn't know I was unrecognizable. If you guys want—"

"Nope, that's you for sure," Goombella teased, and caused Bobbery to laugh. Koops blushed and wasn't sure if he felt embarrassed, annoyed, or relieved.

"Don't pay them any mind, Koops darling," came a light laugh. "They're just in awe over how far you've come, dear."

The group looked up as a purple, cloud-like creature floated down to them. She had bright pink lipstick, dark blue eye shadow, matching golden bracelets and her prized necklace, and light green earrings. On top of her head, she stylized what appeared to be hair, brushed to the sides and upward. Though she appeared mostly the same, it appeared that she used a bit more make-up on her face, covering any possible age lines she might have had.

"Thank you, Madame Flurrie," Koops gratefully replied.

"Any time, dear," she cooed. "In fact, you're looking much more dignified and mature these days. Tell me; are you still with Koopie Koo? Or have other women already stolen you away?"

"N-No! I…we're still together," Koops clarified.

"How's the stage been, Madame?" Bobbery asked.

"Oh, the stage has been wonderful, dear," Flurrie gushed. "It's so wonderful to still be around after these past number of years."

"And Doopliss?" Goombella added. "Has he behaved?"

"Fine, on the most part," Flurrie pondered. "Though, there was more than one instance that he…grew carried away. At one point, he insisted the world know him as 'Rumple' and demanded people to guess his new name, but we managed to work around that."

"Well, that's…interesting," Goombella mused, not as reassured as she would have liked.

"More like crazy! That weirdo was always twisted," laughed a new voice and caused the group to turn back to the stairs. A Yoshi rushed over, with longer red hair and a taller body to match it. Aside from red shoes, he only wore orange shorts with white polka dots, undeterred from the cold as of late. "Anyone miss Gonzales Junior?"

"Whoa, what?!" Koops jumped as the Yoshi skidded to a halt next to him. "Is that really you?"

"Junior, look at you!" Goombella squealed. "You're so much bigger now!"

"Told you I grew," he laughed.

"Oh my, so you did," Flurrie purred. "We remember when you were just a little egg, dear. How's the Glitz Pit been?"

"Dull as heck," Junior grumbled. "I can mop the floor with any of those wannabes. There are some good challengers, and Rawk Hawk still rears his ugly head now and again, but man, I miss the good old days, and fighting with the real champs!"

"I think we all miss the old days," sounded a muffled voice. "That's why we gathered here, right?"

Goombella jumped. Koops and Gonzales Junior grabbed one another. Bobbery's mustache twitched while Flurrie clasped her hands over her mouth. They waited for a moment and looked around, but slowly calmed down when nothing happened.

"Hey," the voice sounded again. "Why are you all so jittery?"

"Vivian, lass, is that you?" Bobbery questioned.

"Yeah," the voice replied. "Who else would it be?"

"Well, we wouldn't know," Goombella huffed. "We can't even see you."

"Huh? Really?" Vivian asked. "But I'm right…under…oh. Oops."

A purple shade popped up from the ground, causing Koops to shriek and jump into Gonzales Junior's arms. As the shadow wriggled out of the ground, Koops sighed, and turned to the Yoshi gratefully: "Wow, good thing you got so big, huh?" Junior lowered his eyes and dropped Koops to the floor.

The purple shadow siren, wearing her white gloves with a deep pink-and-white-stripped witch's hat, appeared to have aged less than her friends over the years, as her bright pink hair still seemed to glow.

"Sorry about that," Vivian giggled. "Sometimes I get so sidetracked that I forget where I'm appearing…or hiding."

"It's fine, darling," Flurrie laughed. "How have you been? How's the family?"

"Oh, we're good," Vivian cheerfully replied. "Beldam is still grouchy, but she's nicer to me these days. I think she knows I'd wallop her otherwise. Marilyn's always been fine really; she's still the strongest, but she doesn't abuse me much. In fact, Beldam and I are finally getting her to speak more!"

"Good," Goombella nodded. "I imagined she had more on her mind than 'Guh.' No offense."

Vivian shook her head. "None taken; she's wanted to speak more for a while now. Beldam just never bothered until after we stopped the whole, 'take over the world with shadows' plot." Vivian laughed, but slowly and awkwardly stopped when she realized that no one else had joined in. "Uh…sorry. Guess that was pretty dangerous. I didn't mean to make light of it."

"Nonsense," chirped another new voice. "There were plenty of great treasures that we managed to unearth from our travels. The rest of you need to ease up."

"Well, there's only one floozy who talks like that," Goombella muttered.

A figure flipped her way from the shadows and leaped to the group. The white Squeek sauntered forward, as she swayed her heart-shaped tail back and forth. Her red heels clicked with each step and she adjusted her red mask a bit, sure to cover any eye wrinkles that her friends might have spied.

"Hey, Ms. Mowz," Koops greeted. "How are things with the Lovely Howz of Badges?"

"Mmm hmm," Ms. Mowz observed Koops carefully. "Business is booming, but clearly nothing like you've seen." She winked as Koops deeply blushed. Flurrie and Vivian giggled, but Goombella rolled her eyes. "But enough of that; where's my hunky piece of cheese?"

"If you mean Mario," Goombella snapped, "he's not here yet."

"No? Oh," Ms. Mowz pouted. "I was so hoping to see him already."

"Been here a while myself," coughed Admiral Bobbery. "The old boy just hasn't showed up yet."

"Leave it to Gon…uh, Mario, to make an entrance," Junior chuckled.

"You said he'd come, right, Goombella?" Vivian whispered.

"He'll be here," Goombella reassured the others. "He just sent me a letter not too long ago. Mario promised he'd visit today."

An hour went by, and the party exchanged several more stories, and they discussed how their lives had went on since their adventure with Mario. Another hour went by while they shared plans for the future.

A small few more ships came and went, along with several passersby. As the sun began to set, however, the group let out a chain of sighs, and grew fed up with waiting.

"Well," Koops spoke as he rose from the pier, which had been dusted free from snow several times over. "Guess that's it."

"Nah, the day hasn't ended," Junior argued. "He's got time. So sit!" With that, the Yoshi pulled the Koopa right back down.

"I can't stay," protested Koops. "I have a girlfriend and father waiting at home for me. Besides, I don't want to look bad for the village. If I'm going to be the new mayor, I need to stay on top of Petalburg."

Flurrie also puffed up, rising into the air. "I have practices to attend myself. If I'm not back, Doopliss might go over the top again. Without me, no one can quite put him in his place."

"Really? No one can manage without you two?" Goombella questioned.

"Well, even if they could," Vivian put in, "they'll still want Madame Flurrie back. And I need to keep Beldam in line; if I'm gone for too long, she might go crazy and back to punishing Marilyn."

"I do have a shop to run," Ms. Mowz agreed. "My handsome piece of cheese is welcome whenever he pleases, but he knows better than to keep a lady and friends waiting for too long."

"Well, guess fans would be disappointed without the toughest fighter around," Gonzales Junior relented.

Goombella fumed. "You guys aren't giving him a chance! He's probably just held up. Maybe something went wrong, did you think of that?"

"Face it, lass, he's not going to make it this year," Bobbery sighed. "This salty old bomb has waited by the docks longer than the lot of you. I was hoping to see him soon, and kept hoping, but he's not coming."

Slowly, the party began to separate and depart. Goombella felt tears well up behind her eyes, and looked back out to the sea. She gasped and bounced up a few times.

"No! Wait, guys, just wait a sec! Over there, on the horizon, do you see it?"

A small red ship sailed toward Rogueport. At the bow, barely visible, was a figure dressed in red with blue overalls. The group stopped and made their way back to Goombella by the pier.

"Is that really him?" Vivian asked.

"It's totally him!" Goombella cheered. "I told you he would come back! I knew it was today!"

"Well, I'll be…" murmured Admiral Bobbery.

"All right!" Gonzales Junior shouted. "I'm challenging him right away!"

"Oh, I might just rush out to sea now," Madame Flurrie purred.

Ms. Mowz huffed, "Well, he certainly knows how to make our hearts pound." She giggled soon after.

Koops jumped up and waved, "Mario! Over here! We're all here!"

The red ship slowly pulled into the dock. Mario's friends crashed over one another, cheering at their hero's return. Goombella wormed her way forward, and her eyes met his.

"Welcome back," she greeted. "We've missed you."

Her party cried out in accord and surrounded Mario in seconds. They cheered and pulled him around, telling him stories long into the winter night.

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><p>Hooray, a decade after Paper Mario: TTYD, stories are still written for it! Yippee!<p>

So, I know the likelihood that this game ever gets a direct sequel is about non-existant, and long past its prime. However, I really loved the cast, and wonder what they'd be up to, years after they helped Mario save the world. I didn't stray from the finale much, so everyone is doing what they said they would, but just got older doing those things. Maybe Mario could go see them again, some day. (This is why fanfiction exists! Or it's one of the reasons, anyway.)

Anyway, thank you for reading, and I hope it was a pleasant read! If you'd like, let me know! Comments welcome.


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